Table saw blade help please.

[kebabman]

I am in the process of getting the 10" Axminster table saw when it comes back in stock. I also ordered and have just received an 80T extra fine blade which I was thinking of using to cut the rebate for aquamac seals for window frames. I am a novice woodworker and have just noticed that on the blade's box it says that under no circumstances should the blade be used to cut along the grain.
Please could someone kindly explain why this is and secondly am I safe to use the blade to make just the fairly shallow cuts to fit the aquamac seal in or should I try and return the blade to Axminster and use a router to do the job.
Many thanks

 

[kebabman]

I asked Axminster and apparently due to the angle of the teeth the blade can only be used for crosscut. Shame it isn't labelled crosscut like some of the other blades which would help us novices.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The more teeth they have the greater the chance of their being crosscut, the fewer the greater likelihood of their being rip. A 250mm rip might only have 24 - 40 teeth - 60's and certainly 80's would be crosscut. The 80T will be an excellent blade, but not for your purpose. Get a rip as well? General purpose ones aren't good for much, so you'll need both.

 

[kebabman]

Many thanks Phil, I was thinking of handing back the 80T blade but it sounds like I would get use from it and so should keep it.

 

[no idea]

If you want to make a rebate for seals why not look at a router as an alternative? At least this way you won't need to play around with the height of the riving knife on the table saw (assuming it will sit above the height of the blade).

 

[kebabman]

Thanks No Idea, good point about the riving knife, I'm showing my inexperience!
Cheers

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

Aqua mac window seals are not rebates as such, but stepped grooves cut into the window rebate. Not easy to do on a tablesaw and potentially dangerous. In industry, this would require an illegal procedure. Normal 10 inch tablesaw blades have a saw kerf a little wide for the Aquamac anyway, so will make for a sloppy fit and it will take about 4 pases to make the series of grooves to make up the profile. A narrow kerf blade would likely defeat your riving knife too. I would avoid doing this at the tablesaw and get the router cutter which makes things easy and safe, though you will need a router in a table, as the bits are on the largish side.

Mike.

 

[kebabman]

Thanks Mike for the posting, it looks like the router bit is the way to go.
Cheers

 

[Eric The Viking]

Isn't it done by arranging the seal to coincide with window bead?

You put a slight rebate on the back of the bead (where it's not seen) and that turns into a slot for the seal when the bead is fitted round the casement opening. That's how my French windows were done, and I copied it when I made an extra casement for it. It was easy and worked well (or has so far, anyway).

Or am I thinking about the wrong seal profile? The seals I have are roughly "L" shaped with the foot of the L being the spongy sealing pad.

E.

PS: For the avoidance of doubt, the stuff I have is roughly like this below. It came from Ironmongery Direct, IIRC.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello, Eric the Viking,

I'm not saying it cannot be done/there are no seals that do this, but I think the one you illustrate needs to go into the frame, as you have drawn it, with the 'wiper ' facing towards what you have labelled as the bead. The other sort, which will go into the 'bead' is a compression seal, not the wiper seal. I any event, the bead should not be an applied one, but solidly part of the frame profile, which is why it is machined into a deep rebate and not recommended to be done on a tablesaw. Also, even if you were to groove the bead and apply them, they are too flimsy to do safely on a tablesaw. I have recently done these seals around a patio door, and because I'm a belt and braces type of person, I used both!

Incidentally, the narrow groove for the seals is 2.7mm, which is thinner than a standard 10 inch tablesaw blade kerf, which is too loose.
Does this make sense?

Mike.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I wasn't clear - I did them on a router table. The one I have is the larger of the two you show in the picture (#63, I think).

I've since found there is a specific cutter for the job:
http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Window_Seal_116.html

Sorry for the misunderstanding.